Real-time product delivery during customer-driven point of sale retail transactions

1. A method comprising:

identifying an initial product at a point-of-sale (POS) device located at a merchant facility, the POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that an associated product corresponds to the initial product;

identifying an employee location, from a plurality of employee locations, that is in proximity to a location of the associated product, the employee location corresponding to an employee;

computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device;

providing a prompt at the POS device to a user purchasing the initial product to indicate whether the user also wants to purchase the associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a product request corresponding to the associated product in response to receiving the indication that the user wants to purchase the associated product;

and

sending an electronic message to a mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a different product request corresponding to a different product that is located at a different product location within the merchant facility in response to receiving a different indication that the user wants to purchase the different product;

determining that a transport grouping option is selected; and

in response to determining that the transport grouping option is selected, including a different request in the electronic message to transport the different product from the different product location to the POS device.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a retrieval perimeter:

computing the retrieval perimeter based upon the employee location; and

determining that the different product location resides within the retrieval perimeter; and

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a transport direction:

computing the transport direction based upon the employee location and a point-of sale device location that corresponds to the point-of-sale device; and

identifying that the different product location is in proximity to the transport direction.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the user wants to purchase the associated product, automatically charging the associated product to a user bill prior to receiving the associated product at the POS device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying an initial employee location, from the plurality of employee locations, that is closer in proximity to the location of the associated product than the employee location;

identifying an amount of stationary time that an initial employee is located at the initial employee location;

in response to determining the amount of stationary time, determining that the initial employee is unavailable to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device;

in response to determining that the initial employee is unavailable, determining that the employee is available to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device; and

in response to determining that the employee is available, sending the electronic message to the mobile device corresponding to the employee.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a second initial product at a second point-of-sale (POS) device located at a the merchant facility, the second POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that a second associated product corresponds to the second initial product and computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the second associated product from a location of the second associated product to the POS device;

providing at the second POS device a prompt to a second user purchasing the second initial product to indicate whether the second user also wants to purchase the second associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a second product request corresponding to the second associated product in response to receiving the indication that the second user wants to purchase the second associated product; and

upon determining that the employee is in proximity to the location of the second associated product, sending an electronic message to the mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the second associated product from the location of the second associated product to the second POS device, and wherein the request further instructs the employee to retrieve the associated product from the location of the associated product and the second associated product from the location of the second associated product before delivering the associated product to the POS device and delivering the second associated product to the second POS device.

7. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors;

a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors in order to perform actions of:

identifying an initial product at a point-of-sale (POS) device located at a merchant facility, the POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that an associated product corresponds to the initial product;

identifying an employee location, from a plurality of employee locations, that is in proximity to a location of the associated product, the employee location corresponding to an employee;

computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device;

providing a prompt at the POS device to a user purchasing the initial product to indicate whether the user also wants to purchase the associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a product request corresponding to the associated product in response to receiving the indication that the user wants to purchase the associated product;

and

sending an electronic message to a mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device.

8. The information handling system of claim 7 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:

generating a different product request corresponding to a different product that is located at a different product location within the merchant facility in response to receiving a different indication that the user wants to purchase the different product;

determining that a transport grouping option is selected; and

in response to determining that the transport grouping option is selected, including a different request in the electronic message to transport the different product from the different product location to the POS device.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a retrieval perimeter:

computing the retrieval perimeter based upon the employee location; and

determining that the different product location resides within the retrieval perimeter; and

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a transport direction:

computing the transport direction based upon the employee location and a point-of sale device location that corresponds to the point-of-sale device; and

identifying that the different product location is in proximity to the transport direction.

10. The information handling system of claim 7 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:

in response to receiving the indication that the user wants to purchase the associated product, automatically charging the associated product to a user bill prior to receiving the associated product at the POS device.

11. The information handling system of claim 7 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:

identifying an initial employee location, from the plurality of employee locations, that is closer in proximity to the location of the associated product than the employee location;

identifying an amount of stationary time that an initial employee is located at the initial employee location;

in response to determining the amount of stationary time, determining that the initial employee is unavailable to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device;

in response to determining that the initial employee is unavailable, determining that the employee is available to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device; and

in response to determining that the employee is available, sending the electronic message to the mobile device corresponding to the employee.

12. The information handling system of claim 7 , further comprising a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors in order to perform actions of:

identifying a second initial product at a second point-of-sale (POS) device located at a the merchant facility, the second POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that a second associated product corresponds to the second initial product and computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the second associated product from a location of the second associated product to the POS device;

providing at the second POS device a prompt to a second user purchasing the second initial product to indicate whether the second user also wants to purchase the second associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a second product request corresponding to the second associated product in response to receiving the indication that the second user wants to purchase the second associated product; and

upon determining that the employee is in proximity to the location of the second associated product, sending an electronic message to the mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the second associated product from the location of the second associated product to the second POS device, and wherein the request further instructs the employee to retrieve the associated product from the location of the associated product and the second associated product from the location of the second associated product before delivering the associated product to the POS device and delivering the second associated product to the second POS device.

13. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising computer program code that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions comprising:

identifying an initial product at a point-of-sale (POS) device located at a merchant facility, the POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that an associated product corresponds to the initial product;

identifying an employee location, from a plurality of employee locations, that is in proximity to a location of the associated product, the employee location corresponding to an employee;

computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device;

prompting at the POS device a user purchasing the initial product to indicate whether the user also wants to purchase the associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a product request corresponding to the associated product in response to receiving the indication that the user wants to purchase the associated product;

and

sending an electronic message to a mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the POS device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the information handling system performs further actions comprising:

generating a different product request corresponding to a different product that is located at a different product location within the merchant facility in response to receiving a different indication that the user wants to purchase the different product;

determining that a transport grouping option is selected; and

in response to determining that the transport grouping option is selected, including a different request in the electronic message to transport the different product from the different product location to the POS device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the information handling system performs further actions comprising:

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a retrieval perimeter:

computing the retrieval perimeter based upon the employee location; and

determining that the different product location resides within the retrieval perimeter; and

in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a transport direction:

computing the transport direction based upon the employee location and a point-of sale device location that corresponds to the point-of-sale device; and

identifying that the different product location is in proximity to the transport direction.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the information handling system performs further actions comprising:

identifying an initial employee location, from the plurality of employee locations, that is closer in proximity to the location of the associated product than the employee location;

identifying an amount of stationary time that an initial employee is located at the initial employee location;

in response to determining the amount of stationary time, determining that the initial employee is unavailable to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device;

in response to determining that the initial employee is unavailable, determining that the employee is available to transport the associated product from the location of the associated product to the point-of-sale device; and

in response to determining that the employee is available, sending the electronic message to the mobile device corresponding to the employee.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the information handling system performs further actions comprising:

identifying a second initial product at a second point-of-sale (POS) device located at the merchant facility, the second POS device being a checkout counter;

determining that a second associated product corresponds to the second initial product and computing an estimated transport time for the employee to get to the associated product and transport the second associated product from a location of the second associated product to the POS device;

providing at the second POS device a prompt to a second user purchasing the second initial product to indicate whether the second user also wants to purchase the second associated product, wherein the prompt includes the estimated transport time;

generating a second product request corresponding to the second associated product in response to receiving the indication that the second user wants to purchase the second associated product; and

upon determining that the employee is in proximity to the location of the second associated product, sending an electronic message to the mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transport the second associated product from the location of the second associated product to the second POS device, and wherein the request further instructs the employee to retrieve the associated product from the location of the associated product and the second associated product from the location of the second associated product before delivering the associated product to the POS device and delivering the second associated product to the second POS device.